Fitness Friday: Week Seven & Greta Goes Gluten Free

Every week, along with my progress update, I’m sharing guest posts from friends who are making changes in their lives to live more healthily. This week my guest poster is Greta Funk. Recently, Greta and her family started living gluten free because of a diagnosis for one of her children.

Greta’s words…

My two year old daughter was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in February.  Because it was the toddler who could no longer have gluten, and she’s too young to really understand why, I made the decision to cook only gluten-free meals at home. People probably thought I was crazy, but I didn’t want her to accidentally get a bag of Goldfish, or have a fit because she couldn’t have Goldfish. So anyway, for the past two months, we have completely revamped the way we eat.

It has been HARD. It has been overwhelming, and stressful.  And I am just now starting to come out of that fog and feel more comfortable with what I’m cooking and buying.

Because anything specifically labeled “gluten free” is automatically twice as expensive as regular food, I’ve done a lot of cooking from scratch. I roast a ton of veggies (cauliflower, asparagus, potato “French fries” and Brussels sprouts are our new favorites). I prepare meat simply, often in the crock pot with just barbecue sauce or salt and pepper. We don’t eat a lot of breads anymore, because they take a lot of extra preparation to get from oven to table, and we don’t rely on “convenience” foods at all anymore, unless it’s something that I’ve made ahead of time and frozen. Pasta dishes are also simpler, with gluten-free noodles and homemade sauces, low fat cheeses, and meats. We’ve also tried new things, like quinoa (which, we discovered, is delicious!).

If there is one positive aspect to her diagnosis, it is that it has forced me to take a good long look at what I’ve been feeding my family and make better choices. Unprocessed, whole foods have definitely become the norm in our house.

I think it’s too soon to see dramatic changes in my health (or my husband’s), but mentally and psychologically, I feel much better about the foods that I’m eating and cooking. I make better choices as a whole, and I’m proud of that.

Greta is a Stay At Home Mom of four children under seven years old. She doesn’t control the chaos, she just tries to contain it, and she documents it all at Gfunkified.com.

Sherry’s Week Seven Update

Well. Like last week, this week was a tough one for me. I can’t believe how easily I was thrown off course in this whole living-healthier endeavor. I haven’t given up, and I know I’m going to do this thang, but it’s easy to get frustrated. I am working on fixing my heel and knee so I can work out without pain, so I know that will help me to stay on track also.

Successes

• Not many. I managed not to eat my weight in cake, so I guess that’s good.
• Weight…Somehow, I lost two pounds this week. I’m not sure how that’s possible, but it’s encouraging. I’m at 278, so 12 pounds during the program and 23 pounds from my heaviest of 301.
• Inches…Again, in the “weird” department, I managed to lose half an inch this week. So, I’ve lost 22 inches since starting the program!

Challenges

• Everything. Everything was a challenge this week. I ate too many times when I wasn’t hungry and I let stressful situations lead to eating.

How was your week?

Past Posts on my fitness Journey…

• Week Six & Kim Borchert Inspires
• Week Five
• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• I’m Fat, But That’s Changing